Interview: Cherie Lim on life as a non-celebrity and her relationship with Kim Lim

When asked why she decided to make an exception this time after keeping her distance from the media for so long, she says: “When I first entered showbiz, I was friends with many reporters. However, when my love life became public, many of my reporter friends started writing stories about me. In some cases, they even wrote half-true stories without interviewing me. I was very hurt when I read all these articles, but I mostly felt disappointed.” As a Mass Communications graduate, she understood that they were just doing their job, so she decided to keep away from the media.

Cherie’s life seems like a fairytale. She married Peter Lim in 2003, who came from a modest family and worked his way up to become Singapore’s top stockbroker, and then a professional investor in 1996.

In 2018, he clinched the 12th spot on Forbe’s list of the richest people in Singapore with a fortune worth US$2.4 billion (S$3.3 billion).

As his second wife, the media’s negative coverage of their relationship caused many people to look at them unfavourably. She says: “I was lucky I had my friends and family’s support at that time, they are the ones whom I care about the most.”

Growing up, Cherie had a simple childhood and stayed with her parents, grandmother and brothers in a 3-room flat. She remembers eating meals of just rice and curry and would go to the bread shop with the neighbourhood children to take unwanted bread crusts to eat with butter and sugar. She worked as a model to earn money for her driving lessons, and later said that her reason for leaving the media industry was because her $900 salary was insufficient to provide for her family.

When asked how her life has changed after becoming Mrs. Peter Lim, she says: “Of course, now I drive a better car and live in a bigger house. However, my life is technically still the same, I am not someone who pursues luxury.”

Cherie enjoys keeping active and goes for weekly golf and gym sessions. She is also passionate about cycling and cycles along the park connector from Bukit Timah to Kranji with friends at 5am regularly.

Although Cherie has a comfortable life now, she has never forgotten her hardships in the past. In 2000, she banded with a group of friends and founded Operation Redshirt. Wearing red shirts, they would distribute daily necessities during the Chinese New Year period to the lower income residents of single-room flats.

Because she and her family have also been through tough times, she empathises with the needy and hopes to cheer them on by doing something nice for them. She says: “By giving these friends some daily necessities, I hope that they will be able to have a happy Chinese New Year.”

She also brings Kim and her brother Wee Kiat along to help distribute the goody bags every year. “Kim and Kiat have grown up in a very comfortable environment. I want them to know that there are people going through difficult times who need our help, and for them to cultivate the habit of giving back to society.”

The two siblings have taken her words to heart and turned this into a family tradition. Over the past few years, Kim has even expanded the operation to include more neighbourhoods so that they can reach more beneficiaries. This year, she prepared masks and hand sanitisers for the lower-income elderly, helping to spread the message of the importance of personal hygiene in the current pandemic.

Cherie watched Kim grow up, but their relationship was rocky at the start. After a long adjustment period, the two of them have grown closer. Cherie says: “I understand how she felt. Back then, she was still young and must have found it difficult to accept a new member of the family. It was a learning and growing process for both me and her.”

“After Kim became a mother, she matured a lot. Her life is now more structured, and she is more responsible. Our relationship has become a lot better and we are now like good friends.”

When Kim announced to her family that she was planning to open aesthetics clinic Illuma Therapeutics and haircare salon Papilla Haircare, they were surprised. However, Cherie became Kim’s customer to show her support despite being afraid of pain.

She says: “In the past, I have only gone for laser treatments to remove dark spots on my face. When we moved into phase 2 of the circuit breaker, I went to Illuma Therapeutics and did the Non-invasive Hyfu Facelift, Prime Sculpt and Fat Freeze slimming treatments and realised that actually they didn’t hurt as much as I thought they would.” She then laughed and said that as she turned 50 this year, she will start going for medical aesthetic treatments and continue exercising to keep looking beautiful.

This article was first published in ICON and translated by Valerie Toh.

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